I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2941 

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of the military departments to encourage female members who separate or retire from the 

Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to participate in the Women’s 

Health Transition Training pilot program of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2019 

Ms. HOULAHAN (for herself, Mr. CISNEROS, and Ms. STEFANIK) introduced 

the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of Defense and the Secretaries of 

the military departments to encourage female members 

who separate or retire from the Armed Forces during 

fiscal year 2020 to participate in the Women’s Health 

Transition Training pilot program of the Department 

of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Servicewomen’s Health 

3 Transition Training Act of 2019’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) Women are now the fastest growing cohort 

7 of veterans and are expected to double in population 

8 by 2045. 

9 (2) Women comprise approximately 2,000,000 

10 veterans in the United States and 10 percent of the 

11 total veteran population. 

12 (3) Women veterans are nearly two times more 

13 likely to commit suicide than civilian women. 

14 (4) On average, women do not connect with the 

15 Veterans Health Administration until 2.7 years after 

16 separating from military service. 

17 (5) Female veterans have a higher rate of 

18 homelessness than their male counterparts. 

19 (6) One in five female members of the Armed 

20 Forces report experiencing military sexual trauma. 

21 (b) STATEMENT OF POLICY OBJECTIVES.—It is in 

22 the national interest of the United States to ensure female 

23 veterans receive a high quality of care by promoting pro24 grams and initiatives that— 


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1 (1) educate women separating from active duty 

2 in the Armed Forces of the services available to 

3 them through the Department of Veterans Affairs; 

4 (2) encourage women to enroll in the system of 

5 enrollment of the Veterans Health Administration; 

6 and 

7 (3) increase the number of women receiving 

8 health care from the Veterans Health Administra9 tion. 

10 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of the Con11 gress that the Department of Veterans Affairs, in piloting 

12 the Women’s Health Transition Assistance Program, has 

13 found that the pilot program has— 

14 (1) educated hundreds of women, 99 percent of 

15 whom would recommend the program to others, in 

16 the process of separating or retiring from the Armed 

17 Forces, of the care they can receive from the De18 partment of Veterans Affairs; 

19 (2) improved awareness among pilot program 

20 participants of services available from the Depart21 ment of Veterans Affairs by 56 percent; and 

22 (3) increased pilot program participants’ intent 

23 to enroll with the Department of Veterans Affairs by 

24 13.1 percent, increased pilot program participants’ 

25 intent to use Veteran Affairs health care services by 


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1 15.6 percent, and increased pilot program partici2 pants’ intent to use Veterans Affairs suicide preven3 tion services, if needed, by 19.3 percent. 

4 SEC. 3. PARTICIPATION IN THE WOMEN’S HEALTH TRANSI5 TION TRAINING PILOT PROGRAM OF THE DE6 PARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall di8 rect— 

9 (1) the Secretaries of the military departments 

10 to encourage female members who separate or retire 

11 from the Armed Forces during fiscal year 2020 to 

12 participate in the Women’s Health Transition Train13 ing pilot program of the Department of Veterans Af14 fairs at locations selected by the Secretaries of the 

15 military departments; and 

16 (2) commanders of military installations that 

17 have centers for the Transition Assistance Program 

18 under sections 1142 and 1144 of title 10, United 

19 States Code, to advertise the Women’s Health Tran20 sition Training pilot program to female members de21 scribed in paragraph (1). 

22 (b) REPORT.—Not later than February 1, 2021, the 

23 Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary 

24 of Veterans Affairs, shall submit to Congress a report reVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:14 Jun 07, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2941.IH H2941

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1 garding participation described in subsection (a). The re2 port shall include the following: 

3 (1) The number of participants in the pilot pro4 gram. 

5 (2) The number of pilot program sessions and 

6 the locations at which the sessions were held. 

7 (3) Available metrics including course satisfac8 tion and improved awareness of health services fur9 nished by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. 

10 (4) Barriers to expanding the pilot program to 

11 reach more female members of the Armed Forces. 

12 (5) Barriers to offering the pilot program online 

13 to reach female members of the Armed Forces who 

14 cannot attend in person. 

15 (6) Recommendations for legislation to improve 

16 or expand the pilot program. 

Æ 


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